The website Joshua Project and the prayer resource Operation World are very helpful tools to think clearly about the state of missions around the world. These works try to answer the question, “Who is unreached with the gospel of Jesus?” Please go click on these links and read carefully. Missions is the most important bias for any Christian to train himself in. You know someone who has a theological theme that he always raises and discusses. Missions deserves to be that repeated theme.
But I offer here an improvement on the ranking of the Joshua Project and Operation World because these two works rest heavily on the percentage of the population that claim to be Christian. Certainly, if a Muslim claims not to believer in Jesus, we know that he is lost. But what about those in Brazil or Tanzania or the Philippines who claim to be Christian?
| Joshua Project Criterion Weighting | Opportunity-Based Criterion Weighting |
| Ministry tools 15% | Literature Availability 20% |
| Economy / Education 9% | Poverty 15% |
| Literacy rate 15% | |
| Population 25% | Population 15% |
| Percentage Evangelical 43% | Percentage Evangelical 15% |
| Geography 10% | |
| Persecution / Danger 8% | Danger 10% |
| TOTAL 100% | TOTAL 100% |
The Joshua Project emphasizes % evangelical and population while an opportunity-based scale emphasizes poverty and literature.
How to score a 100
This scale is ranked on the amount of potential a given group has to hear the Gospel and follow Jesus Christ. Opportunity is assumed to be almost infallibly connected to poverty. There is a large gap by design between a people group living beyond cement’s reach and a group that has very few professing believers. The inclusion of the “population” and “danger” categories adds significant weight to the priority not just the potential. Thus, this scale has a dual aim: least-reached and most urgent need.
- Literature Availability (20 points)
The access to a Bible translation as well as distribution of Christian literature and recordings is weighted the most heavily because this generally indicates the amount of church planting activity in a culture as well as the amount of potential a given group has had. - Poverty (15 points)
Poverty affects the unreached status in two categories: the government’s wealth, the group’s per capita income, and the number of missionaries. The government’s wealth affects the unreached status by infrastructure. Roads, electricity, phone and internet access, schools, and availability of jobs are the major categories where wealth affects the unreached status.
Secondly, the economy also controls the number of shops where Bibles, literature, and petrol could be purchased. The lack of jobs in a society means the people will have less chance to purchase Bibles, books, and education.
Thirdly, the less money, the less modern comforts to attract missionaries to that area. More developed areas almost always have more missionaries than poor people groups. Money makes the potential higher for any people group to hear the Gospel.
Roads were chosen as a gauge of the region’s economy because they are typically proportionate to infrastructure and job availability. - Literacy (15 points)
Christianity’s strength is in its book. The level of literacy is directly proportional to a group’s maximum potential to glorify God. Literacy rates run synonymously with level of schools and schools are typically proportionate to poverty. Therefore, this category runs parallel with poverty. - Percentage Evangelical (15 points)
While the Joshua Project ranks 43% of their grade almost entirely from this factor, this is a relatively small factor in estimating the potential to hear that a certain group has. However, the more evangelicals a people group has, presumably the greater opportunity that others have to learn what they believe. - Population (15 points)
“The rationale of this weighting is that the larger a people group, the more likely it will have an influence on the smaller groups around it.” (Joshua Project) Also, smaller groups are more likely to speak two languages or to be overlapped by another group that could raise their potential. Logically, the group should get some priority over the individual. This factor distinguishes between two categories of equally ranked people groups. - Geography (10 points)
This factor estimates the opportunity a group has based on proximity to an evangelical church. Geography will usually run tandem with poverty, danger, and/or percentage evangelical. - Danger (10 points)
Government hostility discourages missionary presence, printing and distribution materials, and persecution of those who do follow Christ. Government also sets the cultural tone that permeates society and greatly influences the potential of the spread of the Gospel.
| Criteria | Value | Points |
| Literature Availability Maximum points: 20 | No Bible portions, no recordings | 20 |
| Bible portions only, recordings | 18 | |
| New Testament only completed after 1980 | 15 | |
| New Testament only completed before 1980 | 12 | |
| Whole Bible before 1980 | 9 | |
| Dictionary, audio recordings, Bible | 6 | |
| Bible plus internet cafes | 3 | |
| Bible, Christian books, and residential internet | 0 | |
| Poverty Maximum points: 15 | No roads, Canoe and air only | 15 |
| Dirt roads only and limited petrol | 10 | |
| Some tar roads, mainly public transportation | 5 | |
| Most or all roads are tar | 0 | |
| Literacy Maximum points: 15 | < 10% literate | 15 |
| > 10 – 50% literate | 10 | |
| > 50-75% literate | 5 | |
| > 75-100% literate | 0 | |
| Percentage Evangelical Maximum points: 15 | 0-2% evangelical | 15 |
| 2-5% evangelical | 10 | |
| 5-10% evangelical | 5 | |
| > 10% evangelical | 0 | |
| Population[1] Maximum points: 15 | > 1,000,000 | 15 |
| 500,000-999,999 | 12 | |
| 100,000-499,999 | 9 | |
| 50,000-99,999 | 6 | |
| 0-49,999 | 3 | |
| Geography Maximum points: 10 | Closest evangelical church +200 kilometers | 10 |
| Closest evangelical church 100-200 | 8 | |
| Closest evangelical church 20-100 | 6 | |
| Closest evangelical church 10-20 | 4 | |
| Closest evangelical church under 10 | 0 | |
| Danger Maximum points: 10 | Government actively hostile | 10 |
| Government unfriendly, random hostility | 7 | |
| Government ambivalent or friendly | 0 |
When Ranked on This Scale
Tsongas of South Africa 36-40%
Tsongas of Mozambique 62%
Village in Hindu India (estimate) 66%
Afrikaaners 0%
Muslim country 58%
Chicago 0%
Auca Indians (1940’s) 91% (Population was the only factor stopping a 100)
Ndzawani of Comoros 76%
[1] If a people group only scores because of this factor, then their total score is zero. America receives a zero.
